254 LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE. 



Clearer far, though still only in gesture, is the language 

 of others. Their eye speaks to the careful observer, as 

 clearly as the eye of man, of their innermost feelings ; 

 their whole carriage, the play of their features, the ges- 

 tures of their limbs, are full of unmistakable expression. 

 Here, as in man, we observe a beautiful harmony be- 

 tween the bodily frame, and the spirit that dwells in it. 

 This they read, unconscious but unerring, in others also. 

 The dog, taught by his constant intercourse with us, sees 

 in our mien and gesture, at once, whether he pleases or 

 not ; the horse, also, can learn to appreciate a frowning 

 brow or a kindly face. They are infallible in this, per- 

 fect as in all that comes from nature directly. Their in- 

 stinct never errs, as the infant's pure mind judges far 

 more correctly than the troubled mind of the old and 

 experienced. Even the wildest of carnivorous beasts per- 

 ceive, by these means, in man a higher spiritual power. 

 The lion reads in his eye the consciousness of his supe- 

 riority, and shrinks from it with shy submission. But woe 

 to that man whose heart should fail him, who but for a 

 moment forgets that he is master of all things living on 

 earth ! The lion, at once, feels himself the better and 

 stronger of the two, and his blood-thirsty instinct regains 

 its supremacy. And as they read the mysterious language 

 of features, so they express it. There is no hypocrisy 

 in the animal's face. It would be a sad error, indeed, 

 to fancy that there was nothing to read in look, mien and 

 gesture of animals, simply because, to us, it is an unknown 

 tongue. We cannot even distinguish individuals of our 

 own kind. To the white man of Europe, all blacks look 



